


Kindly Calm Me Down

by Kara_luna



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 10:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19171288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kara_luna/pseuds/Kara_luna
Summary: Sakura Haruno is a medic, trained by the slug Sannin herself, a kunoichi with fists as brutal as her temper. Unfortunately on her way home from a mission, she encounters more than just empty trees and  thunderstorms, while she simply tries to transport medicine. For a village miles away from Konoha, her everlasting need to assist caused her to use a significant amount of chakra on healing the local children. Tired, wet, and alone, her mission is derailed, becoming more deadly than Sakura could have anticipated. After all, innocence can only last so long when weapons and tears are the lifeblood of shinobi.





	Kindly Calm Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> Not actually sure when this takes place but this is what I came up with one night while watching past Naruto Episodes. I don't have a beta or helper when it comes to writing or spell checking. Sorry if grammar's an issue but there's only so much I can do. Thanks for the read!

“Sakura…”

“ **Please** Sakura…”

 _No. No, let me go. Let me go._ Swallowing hard, her throat was dry and lips chapped, heart beating so hard that it was a drum in her ears. _So loud Bu-bum bu-bum_ , slamming into her chest like the pain rippling through her mind. A deep voice slipped through the leaves like a knife through butter, calm and strong that implored her to **relax.** She couldn’t, she couldn’t relax, she was a medic she was a healer. _Healer’s don’t kill, they never kill, MONSTERS kill like that. Monsters kill and decimate their enemies in vicious and painful and horrible intensity. Only monsters willingly torture shinobi to death because they did nothing but serve their village._

Her mother would never look at her again, she choked at the revelation, her father would flinch from her, they would be disgusted. Disgusted because they could survive their precious little daughter being a medic kunoichi that sat in the background and healed. But she hadn’t healed this time, she had seen the shuriken and it was so close to her neck, so close that she had seen the tearing of her own flesh that would follow if she didn’t stop it. The rain pelted down on the green vegetation, sliding over the leafy trees, splashing in droplets underfoot. The mercenary’s hand blurred from his pouch, metal glinting from between his finger pads, _**Shuriken**_  her mind screamed. _Move, move, move._ Before her mind could catch up with the repercussions of killing on a medicine run, to kill without backup. She had shot forward, fingers curling around his wrist as he made to flick the weapon forward, planted her feet and twisted her waist to send him rolling over her bent back. As he flipped over her, she kept her grip taut and tight, grinding into his bones, and listened to the cry of pain over his newly broken wrist. She could have stopped, left him bleeding and sent for reinforcements or brought him back for the village to deal with. But she hadn’t. At that moment, seeing his crumpled form on the ground and knowing he would go for her again if she didn’t DO something.

Head snapping up as she heard the whooshing of air that signaled more enemies coming from the canopy and fast. She needed to make a decision and perhaps the young girl who hadn’t healed hundreds of dying shinobi saw the bloody wounds that were inflicted when someone made the mistake of giving mercy, would have fled, would have aimed to incapacitate the approaching threats. Perhaps she would have done this if she hadn’t been all alone, far from home, and far from help. Perhaps if she hadn’t already drained so much of her chakra through healing local children. One hit she had left, her fist tightened in preparation, _Survive, that’s what they taught me to do. S-u-r-v-i-v-e._

Blood crusted across her hands as she turned from the clearing that was once a battlefield. Her fists had done this, had torn the ground apart, upended trees, mashed the bodies. _The bodies._ Her hit had been so unnecessarily powerful that he felt it, even all those miles away, he had felt it. Felt her chakra and arrived through the dark trees while the thunder crashed against the blackened clouds, a force of nature like nothing she’d ever known. Sharp and strong and so so bright, just like the lightning that slashed through the sky and lit the red blood soaking the soil. She needed to escape from the forest clearing, _needed to get farther from Konoha, from him, from Naruto. Naruto would never do this. A fox demon, but he never would do this to people even enemies because he’s kind and generous and GOOD he’s good and hed never ne ver do t ha t- Her breath caught as she fled, the thoughts were more painful than any knife wound she received from the enemy._

 _It hurts, kami it hurts. Make it stop, Make IT stop, MAKE IT STOP!_ Hands gripped her pink locks, tearing, gripping, pulling. Her mind felt as though it was short-circuiting, burning, destroying itself like acidic venom seeping through her blood. Her legs pumped at their maximum speed, _I need to get away, I NEED to get away from it from the blood from the corp-_ The blurring trees abruptly cut off as her legs stumbled from the tree canopy. The bark slipped from under her, the rain only slickened the brown surface, and crashed to the ground. Mud soaked into her shirt and torn grass covered her bare legs. Her outfit wasn’t made for this weather or purpose, and though she hadn’t yet realized it Sakura was shaking from the cold. _No, No! No, I need to keep going he’ll take me back, I can’t let him take me back I can’t go back, I Can’t FACe HIM!_

Sakura scrambled forward back to her feet and took off again, leaping back into the trees as fast as her feet could take her, zooming through the branches and ducking and weaving and hoping to all kami that he either wasn’t as fast as she remembered him to be or she had gained exponential speed since they’d last run together. He was the personification of a hunter, predator, once he had her scent he would never let her go, and she couldn’t let him catch her this time. Even if she knew she didn’t have a chance she had to try. _The rain will make it harder to see and smell, maybe I could lose him, maybe he’ll just give up, maybe-_

 _Crunch._ Sakura’s back stiffened in recognition, sandal's crunching on leaves was sounding behind her and she pushed herself further in response. His chakra swelled from behind, reaching out for her gently, caressing her own. _I’m not stopping_ Sakura hardened the presence within her to push him, shove him out and keep him away as much as possible. Grasping at a distance that was rapidly diminishing. But no matter how much she tried to stop him, he wouldn’t leave. _Chakra synchronization, a condition in which a shinobi uses a strong bond with another shinobi to influence their emotions and spiritual well-being. Used rarely in cases where a medic is allowed to work on someone they share a strong relationship with, in order to keep the patient calm and obedient under stress and/or fear._ A wave of anger swelled in her chest. _He’s trying to control me, forcing me to be calm and give in, I won’t. I’m not some child he needs to reel in!_ Her foot slammed into the tree branch with a crack as the force of her anger caused fractures along it’s joint to the trunk. Her chakra riled up as she fought his attempts to relax her, hitting him back with all her rage and frustration and guilt. She hit him with every horrible sensation careening through her body.

She was so focused on the internal battle, she had begun to subconsciously slow, the exhaustion creeping up on her stressed muscles. Her vision wavered as the emotional exhaustion hit her at the same time, causing her to trip over her own feet and fall into a tree trunk. No matter how she tried to keep the anger burning in her gut, to keep that resentment, it began to slip away. After all, it wasn't him she was so enraged with. It was herself. She slammed her fist into the trunk out of her diminishing frustration, hot tears burning in her squeezed-shut eyes.  _I will not cry. I will not..._  Her fingers embedded themselves firmly into the bark. _If he wants to bring me back then fine. He can rip me from this fucking tree._ Her eyes slotting closed as she leaned her forehead against the cool, wet surface and breathed. In. Out. Sagging against her perch she repeated the notion. In. Out. The breath whistled out her nose and in across her tongue to tickle the back of her throat.

“In. Out. That’s good, keep going Sakura. In. Out.” The breaths continued to escape her as her heart began to slow, but her eyes remained closed, too tired to open them again. Fingers gentled carted through her hair, brushing against her head and down her back in gentle affection. Instinctively her back lost its rigidness and her shoulders slump inwards, as a warm, strong arm wrapped around her waist. Gradually her weight was shifted from the tree to his chest, as he tucked her into his arms, holding her close. _So tired. I can’t…. I just-_

 _“_ It’s alright, I’ve got you. I know it hurts, just breathe with me. Do that for me Sakura. I always make things okay don’t I?” His voice was rough and smooth at the same time, but so distinctly him. _I always make things okay, don’t I?_ The words echoing in her ears for a moment, until she turned to face him, pressing her face into his flack jacket and letting herself sink into him. _I trust you. Right now, I’m deciding to trust you._ Trust meant that she didn't need to hold it back, and her tears wet tracks down her blotted cheeks, not escaping his notice. He felt the shift in her chakra, her’s was now twining with his and allowing him to feel the vulnerability and the self-loathing crushing her.

“I will always be here. You are not a monster for this, all shinobi must make their first kill, even the medics. Next time you're forced to do this, I promise you I will be there to help shoulder your burden, no matter how heavy the load.” So full of warmth and kindness, was his smooth baritone, that she allowed herself to forget at that moment. To forget everything and just be in his arms, cradled and held there in the trees while the thunderstorm raged. Surrounded by protection and safety, it was the moment she realized she had been shivering, due solely to the fact she had finally stopped.

"I realized something.” Sakura’s voice cracked hoarsely.

“What’s that?” She hooked her fingers into his jacket and nuzzled her face into the junction of his neck and shoulder, breathing in his scent of earth and pine needles.

“You feel like home.”


End file.
